James Stewart earned his third straight Monster Energy Supercross victory Saturday night in front of a record-breaking 60,213 fans at the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis, Mo.

The Yoshimura Suzuki star passed three-time series champion Ryan Villopoto with 10 laps to go and pulled away to score his fifth win of the season and 50th overall. Stewart joins Jeremy McGrath – the all-time wins leader at 72 – as the only competitors in history to achieve at least 50 career victories.

Alvaro Bautista was running in the top five when he crashed out on the penultimate lap of the Qatar GP. (Photo: Getty Images)

Although Alvaro Bautista and crew chief Antonio Jimenez took no points home from the Qatar Grand Prix, both head to Austin with optimism after the Spaniard came within two laps of a Round 1 podium finish.

Bautista looked strong across the entire Losail weekend, qualifying an impressive second on the grid with the Factory Option Honda satellite bike. He would find himself challenging for a top three placing for the entire race, until losing control at Turn 2 on the 21st and penultimate lap of the Grand Prix.

Takuma Sato celebrates after winning pole position for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. (Photo: Getty Images)

Takuma Sato won the pole at St. Petersburg for Sunday’s season-opening IndyCar Series race, where Tony Kanaan will make his debut in his new Target/Chip Ganassi Racing ride starting alongside him on the front row.

Sato circled the street course in 1 minute, 0.01 seconds Saturday in the rain-delayed qualifying session to put his A.J. Foyt Racing entry out front. It was a stellar debut for Honda and its new twin turbo engine.